Hearts And Flowers LP Horses Forgotten Women PSYCH FOLK
£
36
$
47
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Description
Original US pressing on the rainbow Capitol label from 1968 (ST 2868). The sleeve is in excellent- condition (FREE punchhole, so it must have been a PROMO) and record is in excellent+ condition.
The fuzz acid and flowers book reads the following about Hearts and flowers:
Personnel:
RICK CUNHA vcls A
DAVE DAWSON gtr, vcls A B C
LARRY MURRAY gtr, vcls A B C
TERRY PAUL B
DAN WOODY B
BERNIE LEADON gtr C
ALBUMS:
1(A) NOW IS THE TIME FOR HEARTS AND FLOWERS (Capitol ST-2762) 1967
2(C) OF HORSES, KIDS AND FORGOTTEN WOMAN (Capitol ST-2868) 1968
An excellent and still underrated group from Los Angeles, Hearts and Flowers produced two albums mixing folk rock with Californian harmonies and country folk.
Born in Weycross, Georgia, Larry Murray moved to Los Angeles in the late '50s and joined the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, one of the several Bluegrass groups playing the Southern California circuit. The personnel of the Barkers fluctuated and included future Byrd Chris Hillman, Kenny Wertz and Bernie Leadon. The group disbanded in 1962 after releasing an album for the Crown label, Bluegrass Favorites, which is now extremely rare.
Murray temporarily retired from the music scene, became a TV actor and worked at the Troubador Club in L.A.. In 1965 he met a folk/rock duo formed of David Dawson and Rick Cunha and they started working together and playing live without a drummer. They secured a deal with Capitol and their first album was released in June 1967. Masterfully produced by
Nick Venet (Fred Neil, Stone Poneys, Euphoria, Mad River), Now Is The Time For Hearts And Flowers is a real gem. The choice of material is outstanding, with excellent covers of Tim Hardin's Reason To Believe, Hoyt Axton's 10,000 Sunsets, Carole King's Road To Nowhere and Donovan's Try For The Sun, plus two songs of contemporary groups: Please, the Kaleidoscope song and Rock And Roll Gypsies by Gypsy Trips. Their original songs were penned by Murray, Cunha and Marty Cooper. The vocals are brilliant and Venet added some good production tricks, with some effects, violin, electric bass. The sales were unfortunately extremely poor and Capitol decided to give them a push: two new members, Terry Paul and Dan Woody, were drafted to reinforce their live impact and a promotion campaign began at the end of 1967; with limited results.
Murray and Dawson started working on their second album. Cunha, Paul and Woody left and Bernie Leadon arrived. Of Horses, Kids and Forgotten Woman was released in July 1968 and got the same results as the first album: critical acclaim but low sales. It notably contains She Sang Hymns Out Of Tune, a song originally recorded (but not released) by
Jesse Lee Kincaid with the Rising Sons.
Due to their unsuccess, the group disbanded and their records sank into obscurity before being rediscovered in the mid-80s by Bam Caruso.
Larry Murray went on to record a good country folk/rock album, Sweet Country Suite (Verve Forecast FTS 3090) 1969, with backing by Swampwater, Paul Parrish, JD Souther and two Nitty Gritty members, Fadden and McEuen). He also worked with Kris Kristofferson and Jessi Colter in the early '70s. Rick Cunha would later work with Linda Ronstadt, have a career as a songwriter and sesionman and also released two decent country rock albums: Cunha Songs (GRC GA 5004) 1973, with Dave Dawson and Moving Pictures (CBS ) 1977.
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